


Resurrection

by frogslay



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 15:41:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11672094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogslay/pseuds/frogslay
Summary: Sephiroth attempts to return using one of the remnants again. However, something went wrong. Perhaps Aerith's force finally had some tiny impact. Sephiroth returns...without Jenova's influence. Now he must face a world that fears him and people that want to kill him while trying to regain the shattered pieces of his psyche.





	Resurrection

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nikasha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikasha/gifts).



Rage boiled as he was once again returned to the planet. Life flowed around him, caressed what remained of his essence in a futile attempt to assuage his blood lust. The souls of the “just” knew nothing of what they wrought. There would be no temperance found from their hollow attempts. They had all been complacent in mother’s attempted destruction, but in his return she would also rise again.

It felt as though it should be far simpler this time. Let the draw of vengeance guide him to a new vessel, but each time the hatred consumed him completely fetters weighed upon him. 

“Why?! Why am I condemned to be surrounded by this filth?! I am a God! Am I not meant to ascend to my true status?”

“This is not you Seph.” The voice felt familiar, though the tone was foreign coming from one typically so joyful.

“Zack?”

“Yeah, I guess she still has a hold on you.” As the ghost of a friend long gone appeared before him, a young girl stepped from behind Zack’s shoulder.

“That just will not do. We did all that work. The Planet isn’t about to let her influence in again.”

The girl felt familiar. He grasped for the memory, but it felt as though he were trying to pick it from another’s brain.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, so she’s retreated? You likely would only remember me from pictures.” A pout graced her delicate lips as she tilted her head in thought. “I wonder…

“What are you thinking sweetheart?”

“Give me a moment.” That said, she bowed before them in prayer.

A smile glowed in her eyes when she opened them again. “We have a proposition for you.” She paused to size up his reaction. “The planet has agreed to allow you to return, but she has to go.”

Pure unbridled panic consumed his thoughts. “I can’t be without her. Mother is the only one who has ever truly loved me.” Sephiroth clutched his head, horrified by the idea.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but just being here will separate you two eventually. The fact that you have any reason at all is proof enough of that.”

“What do you mean?”

“The lifestream itself has changed to save those affected by her. At this point it is a choice between slowly leeching her from your mind, or ripping the band-aid off at once.” Aerith gave him a moment to think. “I do hope you’ll consider going back. You said yourself, you don’t feel at home here. If you return you might stand the chance of finding somewhere you belong.”

“Go back? To find a home in a world full of people who revile me for nothing more than taking what is rightfully mine?”

Zack stepped forward to rest hands on Sephiroth’s shoulders. “That’s her talking Seph. I remember the you before all this happened. You lashed out, but I knew it was because you were protecting your heart. Please buddy, you deserve to be happy. Especially with everything she’s done to you.”

Until that moment he had not noticed the quiet. Mother’s voice had been so much a part of him he had not realized her increasingly frequent absence. Perhaps he had been seeking her presence, or maybe she was clinging to her loving son. “I’m not strong enough without her.”

“You’re stronger than anyone I know. It’ll be hard, but you’ll make it work. I know you will.”

He had a lot of misgivings about the idea. Despite the decision being displayed as a choice, there really was only one option. Sephiroth was not a man to remain complacent, and remaining in the lifestream as his only refuge slowly leeched away was not the sort of choice he could abide. He would return, and make due with what he had.

“Get it over with then.”

As if it feared he would change his mind the lifestream surged around him. Mother screamed within his mind, shrill and haunting. Tendrils clawed for purchase with the last ounce of desperate hope. Relief he had not expected to feel washed over him as the last of her drained away. 

Life and light gripped his consciousness and thrust it forth. Whispers buzzed past as Sephiroth tumbled through. The surge stopped, eyes snapping open to stare at broken rafters, droplets raining upon his naked body. Everything hurt. Every muscle, every tendon, every neuron firing in his gloriously physical body ached. Water lapped at his sides, but he only had a moment to think that he should find land before passing out.

***

Cloud bowed his head to stare at the floor. Everyone told him his visits to the church were quite possibly the worst idea ever. While true, he still couldn’t bring himself to abandon the place. From time to time he’d come and make just enough repairs to keep it standing. Usually around the time he started seeing signs of a visitor. All the normal Aerith mischief was afoot that day, but it had seemed subdued somehow. He didn’t know what she had in store for him, but he doubted he’d like it.

He’d arrived at the church to see her standing in front of the Buster Sword. The first words from her mouth had been, “I need you to be VERY understanding.” Part of him knew he should be angry, but he never could muster any true semblance of malice where she was concerned. 

When she was finally convinced Cloud was pacified, Sephiroth emerged from the healing pool. She had all but come out and said it was going to happen. That didn’t mean Cloud didn’t curse like a sailor as he dragged the former general to the shoreline. 

As he retrieved a blanket from Fenrir’s storage she repeatedly assured him the man sleeping in her church was devoid of Jenova’s maddening influence. He’d believe it when he saw it. Just as the blanket gave Sephiroth some modesty, the lanky man’s pale lashes started to flutter open.

“Aerith says your ‘mother’ isn’t with you anymore. I have my doubts. Call me paranoid.”

Sephiroth only stared on in confusion. “Mother? My mother died in childbirth. Who are you?”

“Cloud Strife.” The blonde stared incredulously.

“It sounds familiar.” Sephiroth’s hands gripped his head, pain shooting through his temples. “I cannot recall you. Maybe if I return to Shinra I can try to piece things out.”

“Wait, what’s the last thing you remember?”

“I was in Nibelheim with Zack and some cadets. I remember climbing the mountain, but I don’t recall entering the reactor. Why do you ask?”

“Dammit.” Cloud paced between the pews, muttering expletives as he went. Aerith had asked of him the impossible. Adapting to his nigh endless enemy being not so psychotic was something he could handle. She had dumped a man hated the world over in his lap, and begged Cloud to protect him.

“Cloud?” 

Ripples of terror shivered up his spine. That voice uttering his name had only ever meant catastrophic things before, but as he glanced past silver hair all he saw was fear. He brought himself to kneel before the man he had once idolized.

“A lot has happened since that day.”

“What do you mean?” Extreme skepticism laced his words. 

“I don’t know how to explain your situation to you. Maybe it’ll come to me later, but if you can’t remember everything that’s happened I think things need to be broken to you very carefully. I sadly have some experience with what happens when you don’t.”

“So I’m just going to be in the dark? You won’t tell me anything?”

“I didn’t say that. First thing you need to know is that Shinra isn’t what it once was, if it even is anymore. I promised to help you. You are not a general anymore, and a lot of people are going to look at you like a plague, but if Aerith vouches for you that’s enough for me for the moment.”

Cloud didn’t seem ingenuous, but there was little evidence to convince Sephiroth the man wasn’t an enemy attempting to gain his trust.

“Why would they hate me? I’m the hero of Wutai.”

Cloud stared for a long moment. This was the most delicate of subjects. “I have a hunch. If I see proof it’s true I’ll feel more comfortable answering that. Right now I think it’s too dangerous a topic.”

Sephiroth growled in frustration. “I feel as though I’ve been sleeping through my own life. I catch glimpses of terrible things. Things I could not have done, but how else.”

“Don’t worry too much about it. In the meantime, let’s go home.” 

Cloud stretched forth his hand far more boldly than he felt. For a moment Sephiroth merely stared at the offering. He had no more answers than he started with, but brief glimpses of memories inclined him to believe. If nothing else he could gather vital intel on one of Shinra’s enemies. His own hands shaking Sephiroth took Cloud’s, and the unspoken offer it provided.

**Author's Note:**

> I went back and revised this. I didn't realized I missed a box somewhere when I first posted this but there will be at least another chapter forthcoming. I will warn I'll be working on it during a hectic schedule so it may be a bit, but I am working on it. I realized a bit of the first chapter came across as ooc and I wanted to fix that before moving on. Again sorry about my mix up.


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